13744: Women cutting their hair and removing facial hair

I am doing a project on Muslim women and would like to know what is the ruling concerning a Muslim’s hair. Is she allowed to cut it as much as up to her shoulder or not/ what about facial hair? Is it harem to get rid of it or not. Please answer and pray my imam is strong.

Praise
be to Allaah.

We ask Allaah Almighty to increase you in faith and to
make you content with the truth.

We do not know anything (to disallow) cutting women’s
hair. What is forbidden is shaving it. You should not shave your hair
but you may cut it and reduce its length or volume; we know of nothing
wrong with that. But that should be done in a proper manner which will
please you and your husband. You should come to some agreement with
him on a kind of haircut that does not resemble kaafir women, because
if you leave it long, it will be a lot of trouble to wash it and comb
it. So if the hair is very long or thick, and the woman cuts it to reduce
its length or volume, that doesn’t matter. Cutting some of it will make
it more beautiful, which will please both the woman and her husband.
So we do not know of any reason to disallow that. But shaving it altogether
is not permissible, except in the case of sickness. And Allaah is the
Source of strength.

See Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, part 2, p.
515

It was narrated in Saheeh Muslim that Abu Salamah
ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmaan said: “The wives of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to cut their hair until
it came just below their ears.” (al-Hayd, 320)

Al-Nawawi said: this indicates that it is permissible
for women to cut their hair short.

But women should avoid resembling kaafir women or immoral
women when they cut their hair

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan said:

It is not permissible for a woman to cut her hair short
in the back and leave the sides longer, because this involves disfiguring
and fooling about with her hair which is part of her beauty, and it
also involves imitating the kaafir women. This prohibition also applies
to haircuts which are named after kaafir women or animals, like the
“Diana” cut, named after a kaafir women, or the “lion” cut or “mouse”
cut, because it is haraam to imitate the kaafirs or to imitate animals,
and because that involves fooling about with a woman’s hair which is
part of her beauty.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah,
2/516,517

2 – Removing facial hair.

Shaykh Muhammad al-Saalih ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:

With regard to hair which is abnormal, because it grows
in places where hair does not usually grow, such as a woman having a
moustache or hair growing on her cheeks, there is nothing wrong with
removing this, because it is abnormal and is disfiguring to the woman.

The Standing Committee was asked about women removing
facial hair, and they replied as follows:

It is OK for a woman to remove hair on the upper lip,
thighs, calves and arms. This is not the same as plucking (eyebrows),
which is forbidden.

What is the ruling on a woman removing hair from her
body; if it is permissible, then who is allowed to do that for her?

They answered:

It is permissible for her (to remove) everything except
her eyebrows and the hair on her head; it is not permissible for her
to remove those, or to remove anything from the eyebrows whether by
shaving or any other means. She, her husband or one of her mahrams may
do that for her, with regard to the parts of the body that they are
permitted to see; or another woman may do that, with regard to the parts
of the body that she is permitted to see

The hair of the private parts and the thighs may not
be seen by either another woman or a mahram.

It is forbidden for a woman to remove her eyebrows or
part of them by any means, whether it be by shaving, cutting, using
a depilatory substance, because this constitutes the plucking for which
the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the one who does
it, i.e., the women who plucks all or part of her eyebrows, claiming
that it is for the purpose of beautification, or the woman who does
that for her. This is changing the creation of Allaah which the Shaytaan
promised to enjoin upon the sons of Adam.

See the answer to Question No. 2162,
1172, 1192

See also al-Fataawa al-Jaami’ah li’l-Mar’ah al-Muslimah,
part 3, p. 877-879